12 vs 8

By
Ed Rosenthal
on March 1, 2001

I have plants ready to bud, if I cut the lights back to 8 hours of light, how long will it take the plants to ripen?Sport,

Vinton, Ohio

Usually growers using lights force their plants to flower under 12 hours of darkness each cycle. Most domesticated indoor varieties ripen 8-12 weeks after forcing. However, if the dark period is increased the flowers will ripen in a shorter period of time at the expense of growth.

Plants given 16 hours of darkness a day, and 8 rather than 12 hours of light, will ripen 20-30% faster than plants under a regime of 12/12. But you can expect yields of only 50-60% normal. The reason for this is simple – light plus water, nutrients, temperature and good environmental conditions equals growth. Plants exposed to less light produce less growth.

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